Raleigh Speedway

Raleigh Speedway (officially Southland Speedway nicknamed Dixie Speedway by fans) was a one-mile (1.6 km) oval race track which opened in 1952 one mile (1.6 km) north of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake County. It was the second superspeedway ever built (the first being the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) Darlington Raceway at Darlington, South Carolina). It was also the first lighted superspeedway and the first track on which NASCAR sanctioned night-time races. The track had a long and narrow shape, like a paper clip, with the front and back straights about 500 feet (150 m) apart and the straightaways about 1,850 feet (560 m) long. The turns were banked at 16° and the straightaways were flat.

The track opened in 1952 as Southland Speedway. Its first major event was a 200-mile (320 km) AAA sanctioned IndyCar race held on July 4, 1952. That race was won by Troy Ruttman in an Offy powered Kuzma. From 1953 the track was known as Raleigh Speedway. NASCAR races were held at the track from 1953 to 1958. On the 1/4-mile (0.4 km) infield track there were weekly Modified an Sportsman races on Fridays. Occasionally, the Sportsman and Modified's ran on the one-mile (1.6 km) track. The Grand National series ran 100, 250, and 300-mile (480 km) races yearly (twice in 1955). The final three Grand National races were held on July 4, 1956, 1957, and 1958. When the Daytona International Speedway opened, the July 4 Grand National event moved to that track. Shortly thereafter, the Raleigh Speedway closed due to noise complaints from residents of nearby neighborhoods. The track was demolished in 1967. Most of the track site is now The Seaboard Industrial Park with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (CSX) siding occupying the former location of the front straight. About 90' of the backstretch remain in the woods just southwest of the Progress Energy substation on Tarheel Drive.

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